The Summer issue of Notre Dame Magazine is out today. Click here to see my story about the growing push for scholarly, undergraduate achievement. Here’s an excerpt:

While the concept of undergraduate research has been around for decades, a national trend has intensified in recent years that encourages more undergraduates to take on complex research topics — often while abroad — complete a senior thesis, and seek out competitive grant and fellowship money for such scholarly pursuits.

Behind the trend lies a concern that college students aren’t getting the skills they need to compete in the 21st century global economy. This year’s Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education concluded that too many undergraduate students disengage, drop out or fail to master the reading, writing and thinking skills necessary for a successful future.

I’m pleased to report that I’ve sold a short piece on the new Elmore Leonard Literary Arts and Film Festival to The Writer, one of my favorite national writing magazines.

I’m told the piece will appear in the Take Note section of the September issue. It’s my first piece for the this particular title - I’m hoping the first of many.

I’ll post a link when it comes out.

I’m in the process of posting some of my best work from the first half of this year and the bulk of 2009. If you glance at the portfolio section you will now find my story on author Michael Collins titled “Passion & Purpose,” the story about cremated human remains that have never been picked up titled “Left behind,” and the piece about organ donation told through the eyes of a mother whose teenage son was killed in an car crash titled “The Gift of Life.”

Just finished a story for Notre Dame Magazine that will hit stands this summer. The piece, which will be in the front-of-the-book news section, details the university’s push for more scholarly achievement from its undergraduate population. This includes research projects - often studying abroad - the completion of a senior thesis and more. I spoke with a handful of students in the 2010 graduating class who not only welcome this change but who feel it is essential to the changing face of undergraduate studies. I’ll post a link to the story when it’s posted to the magazine’s website.

Here’s the link to my article about the university’s efforts to commission original works in the performing arts that appears in the Spring issue of the magazine. Here’s an excerpt:

Since the 2008-09 Visiting Artist Series, the University has showcased eight new commissioned works by such artists as the Kronos Quartet and Wu Man, the Richard Alston Dance Company and Tim Robbins’ The Actors’ Gang. The University has already commissioned at least six more works for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons — most notably The Actors’ Gang’s anticipated stage adaptation of author Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States — in a growing effort to establish the University as a leader in the creation of new works in music, dance and theater.

“What if we had no more new music?” Thompson says. “What if we had stopped with Bach? What if we said, ‘Okay, nobody’s going to do better than that. Let’s stop now.’ If that happened the world wouldn’t have gotten to hear Mozart or Stravinsky. Can you image a world where nothing new was being created? I feel it’s our responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen. I think it’s one of the most important things we’re doing right now. There’s a cultural legacy that we have to leave.”

I recently finished two stories for publications at the University of Notre Dame that will be coming out soon. The first is a piece on the Kronos Quartet and their upcoming performance of “A Chinese Home” in ND Works. The second is a look at the University’s commitment to commissioning new works in the performing arts that will appear in the Spring issue of Notre Dame Magazine. I’ll post links when they come out.
Also, remember that you can find the writing from my “day job” at www.heraldpalladium.com.

My article in the Winter issue of Notre Dame Magazine is now on the magazine’s site. Click here to read my story on Notre Dame’s new Center for the Study of Languages. Here’s an excerpt:

Lance Askildson grabs a black-and-white photograph from a shelf.

The image of a row of stark, empty carrels filled with little more than the customary headphones serves as a reminder of the isolation and frustration many people still associate with foreign language instruction.

“This is the image people think of when they hear ‘language lab,’” says Askildson, director of Notre Dame’s new Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures. “You would sit there in your carrel and listen and repeat, listen and repeat, right? Well, this is not a language lab.”

Welcome to 2010.  Now that we’re in a new year, I’ll soon be updating my portfolio with some of my favorite pieces  from 2009. Be sure to check back in the coming weeks for those updates. Also be on the lookout for my story on the language arts program at the University of Notre Dame coming out in the Winter issue of Notre Dame Magazine. I’ll be posting a link to the story when it becomes available.

I’m also currently scheduling freelance assignments for late winter/spring issues. Assignment editors can send any story/rate inquiries to me through the contact page on this site. Thanks, as always, for considering me for your publication.

My article in the Autumn issue of Notre Dame Magazine is now on the magazine’s site. Click here to read my story on the university’s ever-expanding Shakespeare program. Here’s an excerpt:

In 2000, Paul Rathburn, a professor in Notre Dame’s English department, founded Summer Shakespeare (now known as the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival). The idea was simple enough: Take literary study to the stage and perform a work the way Shakespeare intended; combine a cast of student and professional actors; and perform a classic production. The Taming of the Shrew was first. Others followed.

Suddenly Shakespeare was popping up everywhere. Notre Dame became the American base for Actors From The London Stage, a prestigious traveling troupe of classically trained performers. Guests such as Michael York and Claire Bloom appeared on the University’s stages. There was a residency by Minneapolis’ famed Guthrie Theater and lectures by world-renowned Shakespeare scholars.

Be sure to check out the Autumn issue of Notre Dame Magazine to read my story on the university’s ever-expanding Shakespeare program. The work that is going on there is really quite impressive.